Unfazed by the criticism from some of his ministerial colleagues for delaying the green nod for projects in ecologically sensitive areas, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the "single biggest threat" to the Forests in the country is the "developmental threat". "They (Forests) not only face the existential threat from encroachments...but they also face what is increasingly becoming perhaps the single biggest threat to Indian Forests, which I call...

The Supreme Court has condemned the stripping and parading of a tribal woman by four upper-caste men 17 years ago, citing it as an example of how tribals are systemically ill-treated and “marginalised” in India. The accused had dismissed the evidence of the victim’s torn clothes claiming that she and other Bhils were poor and usually wore tattered clothes. “This itself shows the mentality of the accused who regard tribal people as...

Its project hanging fire, South Korean steel giant Posco has objected to the Ministry of Environment and Forest’s (MoEF’s) recommendation that the company should submit a “detail time-bound” schedule for spending at least 5 per cent of its total project cost or about Rs 3,000 crore towards welfare activities in the project area in Orissa. Although Posco expressed willingness to earmark funds for CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities, it pointed out...

An 11-member technical team from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) visited the Lavasa hill station project, 65 km from the city, on Wednesday for a detailed assessment of the Rs 3,000-crore project in Pune district. The team will be in Pune for three days to ready the report on the project. The construction of the project was held up for want of environmental clearance. The team is conducting the...

Dronacharya, Guru of Pandavas and Kauravas in the epic Mahabharata, came in for some harsh contemporary scrutiny in the Supreme Court, with the apex court terming as shameful his action in seeking the right thumb of tribal Eklavya to clear the way for his favourite, Arjun, to emerge as the best archer of the times. "This was a shameful act on the part of Dronacharya. He had not even taught...